New Education Ministry program aims to encourage female students to pursue political careers by combining civics, gender studies

A new Education Ministry study program will combine civics and gender studies with the aim of encouraging female students to join the political arena in the future.

The program was developed in collaboration with WePowerorganization for the advancement of women leadership, and is meant to empower women and instill values of social justice and equality.

Commissioner of Gender Equality in the Education Ministry Miriam Schechter said the program deals with issues such as promotion of women in politics, and is aimed at encouraging young female students to man key and influential positions in Israeli society.

Schechter explained that in the past few years, the program was tested as a pilot in several junior high schools, and after proving successful among both students and teachers, it was decided to integrate it as part of the study curriculum across the country.

In its first stage, the program will be implemented among 9th grade students, as part of their civics studies enhancement courses, and will total 30 hours annually.

As part of the program, the students will be asked to analyze cases of gender discrimination. The gender studies will also constitute part of the material for the 2-credit point matriculation exams in civics studies, and will count as 20% of the final grade.

“Civics is a subject that deals with public life, and gives students tools to analyze the social reality in Israel,” said Adar Cohen, Chief Supervisor of Civics Education at the Ministry of Education.

“Therefore,” Adar noted, “it is extremely important to combine gender with civics and social issues, in order to place the topic on the public agenda and instill values of equality between the sexes from a young age.”

Last week, Ministry of Education Director-General Shimshon Shoshani denied reports according to which his ministry drastically cut down the budget for civics education, and allocated the funds to Judaism studies instead.

Shoshani further claimed that in contrast to reports, the ministry actually decided to add a total of 50 annual hours to the study of civics.